A Different Friend
by Little-Mario
Summary: New Moon happened differently, Alice never showed up. Bella has been moving on with her life and goes to check out the campus of U Dub for a weekend during spring break with a friend... only it doesn't go as planned. T for now. No pairings so far. R&R.


**Hey guys, I know it's been a while and I know that I have other stories I should be working on (not to mention papers at Uni), but I got hit by a random urge to write and this is what happened. It's 2,202 words of me playing with Meyer's characters.**

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It would have been a year, Bella realized as she sat up in bed. The hole in her heart that the Cullen's had left twinged in pain for a moment before she set her feet on the wood floor of her room. She was doing better, the wolves helped with that. She had even gone cliff diving the other day, everyone had been there— even Paul. He and Jake had a competition over who could jump out the farthest. A group she knew from Forks, two being Angela and Ben, had called out to her right before Leah had captured her in her arms and jumped. They weren't the best of friends, but they had an understanding. They both had been left by someone they had loved. Bella felt bad that Leah had to share minds with her ex.

"Swan! Get your ass out of bed and book it; let's go!" Speaking of the she-wolf… Bella sighed.

"Let me just get some pants on, Leah, you're welcome to left overs in the fridge while you wait."

Bella stood and moved over to her closet, choosing to go with some jeans, a tee, and a flannel. She shoved her feet in some sneakers then tried to go downstairs quickly, tripping on the last stair. She caught herself right as Leah came into view with some ketchup on her cheek.

"I'm alright," she chuckled and motioned to her left cheek, "Leah, you have a little…"

Leah cussed and wiped the mess away with the side of her hand. "Thanks, you ready for the weekend?"

The two girls were visiting U Dub for Bella and making a weekend getaway out of it. Leah was tired of listening to Sam and Bella, well, she had to. She had gotten a box with a scholarship to anywhere from the Cullen's— she figured it was hush money— and had applied to only a few places. She got into all of them. Even the ones she was sure that she wouldn't and had applied to as a test of Cullen interference. She had great grades, but that only took her so far.

"My bag is by the door."

"Food?" Leah tilted her head to the right, her right hand on her hip and the left on the counter near the sink.

"Not hungry just yet," Bella sighed at the narrowed eyes, "I was figuring we could get some stuff on the road."

Leah huffed, "fine, whatever. But if you don't pull over at a stop for food on the way I will take the wheel from you, got it?"

"Got it, Leah," Bella was used to the concern masked as annoyance. It's just who Leah was. She didn't like to get close to people, like Bella, but instead of coming off shy it was, well, kind of bitchy. "Don't forget to grab the ginger zingers I made for you."

Bella turned to go grab her bag as she heard a "fuck yeah, ginger zingers!" A small smile appeared on her face. She was glad that the wolves loved her baked goods. Bella actually wanted to go to school for Business. She wanted to run a bookshop and bakery, and she was thinking about having the location in Port Angeles. She finally felt at home in Washington after all the hard times, but because of those times she had a pack.

Snapping out of it she made her way to Leah's car that was parked by her Bessie. Leah had a newer, used silver truck. The trip to Seattle was about three and a half hours, including a ferry. If Leah ran the whole thing—without the ferry too— it would take half the time, maybe less Bella guessed. She honestly wasn't sure how fast the wolves could run.

"Want me to drive first? You seem out of it, Swan." A warm arm snuck around her for the keys in Bella's grip.

"Maybe that'd be for the best right now, actually." Bella handed them over to the taller girl. "Sorry,"

Leah frowned and her strong brows furrowed, "Don't be sorry."

Throwing her bag in the back without looking, Bella got up to the passenger side. She bit her bottom lip. Leah glanced over to her and she caught the look.

"It's nothing."

"Bull fucking shit," Leah ground out, "but I won't push you into talking about it."

"Thanks, Leah, really," she fiddled with the air. Her fingers grazing the buttons to get to a cool but not too cold temperature, she had a wolf to keep the car warm in the early spring after all.

The ride passed quickly, the ferry giving the two a stunning view of the mountains and city. There was some traffic in the city, but they made it to the HUB (Husky Union Building) where the tour would be leaving in time. They got free parking since it was afternoon on a Saturday. It was the start of spring break for her, and Leah had Monday and Tuesday off of work, so they were going to be leaving Tuesday afternoon. Leah had friends in the City that were away on business and were letting them "house sit". Their apartment was close to the campus, luckily for them since a bunch of cool shops were around that area.

Their tour of the quad involved a few pictures of the blooming cherry blossom trees, and some checking out of the students. Leah, for sure, was getting looks. She was a tall, stunning woman, Bella thought, of course she would.

"If you get an aerial view of this," their tour guide Melissa said with a smile, "the trees actually form the letter 'w'!"

Leah had tensed up a few times, but Bella had dismissed it, trying to focus on what was being said by the tour guide. She only asked after the tour was done and they were at the campus bookstore getting a Husky shirt. There had been others with the same idea as her so she kept their conversation quiet.

"Ugh, why is a shirt so expensive?" Leah grumbled as she lifted one to her body.

"I have no clue, isn't college expensive enough?" Sure it wasn't for her, what with the money the Cullen's gave her, but still. "Hey, Leah, what was up during the tour?"

Leah looked down to Bella, their brown eyes meeting, "I thought I caught a scent."

Bella swallowed a lump, "Well, it is a city. There's bound to be a few."

"And knowing your ass," Leah growled a bit, "they'll head straight for you."

Bella chuckled, trying to lighten the mood yet knowing the wolf was right. She was, as her ex said, a danger magnet. Still, she had a wolf with her. Surely whatever supernatural being that was around would be smart enough to stay away.

The two girls went off to find a good place to eat and went to a pizza joint. There were red booth seats, and the smell of garlic knots in the air. Leah got a pizza loaded with meat for herself while Bella got a small eggplant pizza. There would be no leftovers of anything, thanks to the speedy metabolism Leah had. Right as they were about to leave Leah tensed up again, only this time she started a low growl.

"What is it, Leah?"

"Well, howdy, Sug!" A blonde, female vampire chimed at her, "It's great to finally meet ya and your friend here."

Leah quickly turned to the small brunette who had her hands up, "I don't know these guys, I swear!"

"No, short stuff, but you will." A blond, male vampire came up behind her; Bella jumped and Leah grabbed the smaller body to hers. "How about we go outside to talk?"

Leah was hesitant, but Bella elbowed her to make her aware of the scene they were making. Bella hated having attention on her. Nodding, but keeping Bella close, they left the Pizza place. Leah took a big breath of fresh air, the vampire couple did so as well but discretely.

"I'm sorry," Bella began and broke the tense quiet between them, "but who the hell are you?"

The pair had on dirty jeans and tees with light jackets. They each had on cowboy boots. If their accents hadn't told her they were from the south than the shoes would. They were both smiling at her, talking quickly, and Leah tried not to chuckle at something.

"What? Leah, what are they saying?" She turned to the vampires, "You know it's not nice to say things about people that they can't hear while in front of them."

"Well," the male began, "my name is Peter and this here's my mate, Charlotte."

"Pleasure," she smiled.

"Of course, darlin'," he joked. "I had a feeling that you would need us shortly."

Bella and Leah exchanged glances, and Bella took a tentative step forward. "A… _feeling_ feeling? Like the _future_ kind of feeling."

Peter scratched the back of his head, "Well, kinda."

Leah, who knew about vampires with extra abilities, nodded her head along. "If we could speed this up, Leech, that'd be great."

His red eyes crinkled up with his smile as he put his hands in his pockets, "I think we're gonna get along just fine."

Leah snarled and he laughed in response. Charlotte piped up to Bella more serious, "I'm sorry about him, but he is right. We came as soon as possible and scouted the place out already. The place is crawling with newborns."

That had Leah's attention. If it was even possible, she stood taller, "Is it the redhead?"

Peter tapped his nose with his index finger thrice, "you got it, sweetheart! Most of the army destroyed each other with in fighting, and maybe a little help from us, but there are still a few who survived."

"Shit!" Leah began a string of cusses. "I wanted a weekend away from the pack, dammit!"

Bella felt bad. This was all her fault. She hadn't even thought about the threat of Victoria.

"Hey calm down, miss she-wolf! We've got it covered. We're waiting on one more and then we can get it over and done with. He should be here in a couple minutes."

Sure enough, as they sat down by a couple benches, another blond vampire showed up. Only this time Bella knew who it was. Her heartrate picked up and she stood up quickly, almost losing her balance.

"Jasper?!"

He looked better than he had with the Cullen's. More comfortable; more himself. He had lost the preppy, designer clothes that Alice had the whole family wearing. His eyes were red. Leah must have seen that first.

"You broke the treaty."

"Hello, pup, I was never a part of it." He dismissed Leah before he addressed his friends, "Report."

The two straight and Peter began speaking quickly to Jasper. Most of it flew over Bella's head. She caught the words "Major" "destroy" "how could you not" and "newborns" however. A growl from Jasper caught her off guard and the two mates looked down immediately. Leah had placed herself in front of Bella the moment it happened.

"I tried to tell them and they wouldn't listen."

"If it was the pack and there was no alpha order, they'd go anyways. Well, at least Paul would." Leah shrugged and Jasper glared at her, "Just saying. If you had all that military experience—"

Bella peaked from behind Leah, "You were in the military?"

"Bells," Leah hissed, "not now."

"It's alright, Bella. I was a Major in the Confederate Army." Her eyes bugged out. "Yes, I know. Look, I'll take care of this with these two. Just go about your business here and pretend like you never saw us."

A pang of hurt hit Bella. She was still not good enough for them. She tried to keep the tears away and push it away.

"Aww, hell," Jasper sighed and sent some calm Bella's way. "I just assumed you wouldn't want to speak or see me. I mean, after everything… and with my diet being what it is."

"No!" Bella got a nudge in the side from Leah. "I always wanted to say sorry, but I eventually realized it was neither of our faults. You feel emotions and they all were slammed with blood lust, and honestly it was Alice's fault for even throwing me the damn party that I never wanted to begin with! I mean what was so smart about crystal plates and presents and—"

Jasper chuckled in awe, "Well, Bella Swan finally grew a back bone."

"Your welcome," Leah butted in. "Now I'll keep Swan protected, you guys go deal with the mess you started."

Bella noticed that Leah was shaking slightly and grabbed the taller girls' hand, looking back at the vampires with a smile. They understood and left quickly after telling them that once it was over with they would find the pair. Leah calmed shortly after the trio of vampires left.

They walked side by side down the busy sidewalks and went into a couple stores. Leah had been trying to get Bella to try some make up stuff with her, Bella compromised with getting a face mask.

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 **I hope you enjoyed it, but I had to stop since I need to start a paper! Please review if you liked it or if there is anything you want to see happen. I literally have no plans for this, so it's all up in the air.**


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